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David Merkel is an investment professional, and like every investment professional, he makes mistakes. David encourages you to do your own independent "due diligence" on any idea that he talks about, because he could be wrong. Nothing written here, at RealMoney, Wall Street All-Stars, or anywhere else David may write is an invitation to buy or sell any particular security; at most, David is handing out educated guesses as to what the markets may do. David is fond of saying, "The markets always find a new way to make a fool out of you," and so he encourages caution in investing. Risk control wins the game in the long run, not bold moves. Even the best strategies of the past fail, sometimes spectacularly, when you least expect it. David is not immune to that, so please understand that any past success of his will be probably be followed by failures. Also, though David runs Aleph Investments, LLC, this blog is not a part of that business. This blog exists to educate investors, and give something back. It is not intended as advertisement for Aleph Investments; David is not soliciting business through it. When David, or a client of David's has an interest in a security mentioned, full disclosure will be given, as has been past practice for all that David does on the web. Disclosure is the breakfast of champions. Additionally, David may occasionally write about accounting, actuarial, insurance, and tax topics, but nothing written here, at RealMoney, or anywhere else is meant to be formal "advice" in those areas. Consult a reputable professional in those areas to get personal, tailored advice that meets the specialized needs that David can have no knowledge of.

Book Review: Secrets of the Moneylab

Behavioral economics is hot among investors, particularly value investors. But the real advantage of behavioral economics is probably not to investors, but to businessmen setting their pricing, because men do not look to maximize utility, but rather to do good enough, and get a better deal than peers. Men don’t think absolutely, but rather relatively. Homo Oeconomicus does not exist.

People will refuse unfair allocations in a deal, even if it makes them better off on average. There is a sense of fairness in all that people do, exceeding the need for personal gain, except when times are tough.

Machiavelli said, “It is better to be feared than be loved.” I have found it is better to be loved than feared. I have worked in businesses where fear was significant, and I found that treating people with love and fairness created far more value than fear.

This is another case where doing what is good leads to more profits not only in long run, but even in the short run.

Play games with people offering them wages in short-term that are high, and yes, you will get more productivity from them, but businesses exist not just for the moment, but for the long-term. Motivating people in the long run is a lot more difficult. The weakness of this book is focusing on short term experiments, and assuming that they apply to the long run challenges of business.

Reputation is important in business and in life. Unlike other aspects of business, you can’t diversify reputation. You only get one. People are far more willing to do business with someone that has a good reputation than one who does not. A related concept is trust. People are far more willing to take chances with those that they trust.

Beyond that, when businesses have odd promotions, they should not be surprised if someone finds a hole in the rules and takes advantage of it.

There is wisdom in experts, and wisdom in crowds, but when do you take advantage of each group to maximum advantage?

Overall, I enjoyed the book and think that those who have not visited these concepts would benefit. Those with more of an investing mindset would probably benefit more from the book Priceless.

Quibbles

Most of my troubles with the book are expressed above. It is great that HP employed people to analyze trading behavior. The mistake is applying the results to long term business decisions.

Who would benefit from this book:

If you want to understand how pricing decisions can improve your business, this book could help you. Value investors, I am sorry, no, this is not the book for you.If you are looking for an entertaining book on how economics really works on the micro level, you would like this book.

Full disclosure: I was e-mailed a copy of the book without asking for it.

If you enter Amazon through my site, and you buy anything, I get a small commission. This is my main source of blog revenue. I prefer this to a “tip jar” because I want you to get something you want, rather than merely giving me a tip. Book reviews take time, particularly with the reading, which most book reviewers don’t do in full, and I typically do. (When I don’t, I mention that I scanned the book. Also, I never use the data that the PR flacks send out.)

Most people buying at Amazon do not enter via a referring website. Thus Amazon builds an extra 1-3% into the prices to all buyers to compensate for the commissions given to the minority that come through referring sites. Whether you buy at Amazon directly or enter via my site, your prices don’t change.

About David Merkel

David J. Merkel, CFA, FSA, is a leading commentator at the excellent investment website RealMoney.com. Back in 2003, after several years of correspondence, James Cramer invited David to write for the site, and write he does — on equity and bond portfolio management, macroeconomics, derivatives, quantitative strategies, insurance issues, corporate governance, and more. His specialty is looking at the interlinkages in the markets in order to understand individual markets better.
David is also presently a senior investment analyst at Hovde Capital, responsible for analysis and valuation of investment opportunities for the FIP funds, particularly of companies in the insurance industry. He also manages the internal profit sharing and charitable endowment monies of the firm.
Prior to joining Hovde in 2003, Merkel managed corporate bonds for Dwight Asset Management. In 1998, he joined the Mount Washington Investment Group as the Mortgage Bond and Asset Liability manager after working with Provident Mutual, AIG and Pacific Standard Life.
His background as a life actuary has given David a different perspective on investing. How do you earn money without taking undue risk? How do you convey ideas about investing while showing a proper level of uncertainty on the likelihood of success? How do the various markets fit together, telling us us a broader story than any single piece? These are the themes that David will deal with in this blog.
Merkel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University. In his spare time, he takes care of his eight children with his wonderful wife Ruth. View all posts by David Merkel →